"A-argh... Ngh...!"
Nearlo, who now had two bleeding stumps in place of his missing arms, was held up into the air by his neck, struggling.
Strangling the poor Farland, the Drowned King’s eyes shone with conflicting light.
His eyes shone with respect for Captain’s determination and ultimately his strength, but on the other hand, he stared at him with clear disdain for the Farland name.
"You have done well, Farland... Or was it, Nearlo? Hm..."
The Drowned King slowly raised his other arm and hovered it before Nearlo’s face, who reflectively turned away. The temperature from the Sea King’s spiritual arm gave off a chill that caused Nearlo to shiver.
"Because of your crew, my body is no longer capable of pushing me towards my goal... Assuming that you’re the captain, and the only one that is still alive... I’ll be taking over your body as compensation..."
Placing his palm against Farland’s face, he grabbed onto it tightly before beginning the process of invading Nearlo’s Mana Realm with his soul.
Nearlo, feeling a foreign substance enter within his body, tried to force it back with his mana, but failed as the purity of the Drowned King’s mana overwhelmed his.
C-crack...!
He could feel the shell around his Mana Core cracking, becoming breached and broken through by the Sea King’s invasive mana.
C-crack...!
Little by little, more cracks formed.
C-crack...!
But then...
Something unexpected happened.
[12h: 41m: 40s]
In the midst of his focus, the Drowned King briefly opened his eyes as he felt the activation of mana in the air that wasn’t his cause.
He scanned Nearlo, but found it wasn’t his doing either.
How odd...
The Drowned King then took a glance upwards—nothing.
He took a glance to his left—nothing.
He took a glance behind him... Nothing.
Why was the mana around him so erratic all of a sudden?
Deciding to look to the right, what he saw caused him to open his eyes.
Far off into the distance, a plastmatic leviathan head emerged—not in two, but in a singular but much greater size. Its eyes were blazing with a furious light as an orb of pulsating plasma manifested within its maw.
Then, with a snap of his mouth, it opened its maw with an earth-shaking roar as the orb within its mouth exploded outwards into a light blue beam.
It surged towards him, covering the gap in distance of roughly 50 metres in seconds, scorching over the coral and causing it to become blackened beyond recognition.
Didn’t... Didn’t this look similar to the attack his mount used?
Before the Drowned King knew it, the beam made contact with him, causing him to unvoluntarily let go of Nearlo, who was just out of reach of being hit with the beam as well.
Nearlo coughed harshly, blood exiting out of his mouth as he fell.
The Drowned King, having been hit with the scorching beam, was being shredded apart as he was forced back by it. By repeatedly repairing his body, his time decreased even further.
5 minutes.
4 minutes.
3 minutes.
Once the beam finally ceased, he was only left with two minutes to spare! What in the world was that attack? Did his mount suddenly come back to life and attack him?
The Drowned King didn’t know.
But what he did know was...
That a person wrapped in obsidian chains was now before him.
BAM!
A fist wrapped in a black obsidian gauntlet crashed into the side of his face, causing him to lean to one side, surprised by the sudden attack.
Then, he leaned out of the way as a—
SWISH!
—Black odachi sliced past him.
Taking a step back, he managed to grasp a clear sight of the attacker before him.
White hair that was partially dyed red in blood, alabaster clear skin that was pale with blood loss, and sparkly blue eyes that had partially lost their light.
It was a woman.
Wrapped around her arms and primarily around her lower abdomen, and gauntlets were smooth obsidian chains that seemed to puppeteer her body around.
The Black Maw was wrapped in chains by the hilt as well, connected with Lillian’s hand.
She was still fighting?!
The Drowned King leaned back again, dodging yet another swipe of Lillian’s odachi before being met with another punch to the side of his face.
BAM!
Knocked to the side, the Drowned King was met with another punch to the face.
BAM!
Despite these attacks being slow enough for him to dodge, why couldn’t he dodge?
...
BAM!
Could it be that his sluggishness was due to the fact that he was nearing the end of how long he could exist?
Thud. Thud.
Raising both of his hands and catching Lillian’s punches, the Drowned King glared down at the girl’s eyes, which seemed to reflect back a sort of madness.
He watched as she pulled her head back before delivering a direct—
BAM!
—Headbutt on his nose.
Gritting his teeth, he shot Nearlo a glance before shifting his gaze back to Lillian. With how much time he had left, he couldn’t be picky about the gender of the body he wanted to take over!
Releasing his hand on Lillian’s hand, he grabbed onto her face with a firm grip.
After sending forth his mana, he knocked against Lillian’s Mana Shells, able to break through them easily with their gap in Tiers and mana purity.
He then unravelled his spiritual body and entered through every orifice on Lillian’s face.
Soon enough, upon entering through Lillian’s Mana Realm, where her soul was held... He found himself under a clear blue sky and a sea that presumably stretched on for eternity.
That was when he spotted a feminine figure off in the distance.
***
Upon returning from Purgatory, Lillian was left inside her Mana Realm. It seemed that her gauntlets finally took effect. How was it doing? Was it winning for her?
She didn’t know.
...
[Your Mana Realm is being Invaded]
Lillian, who was admiring the beautiful, blue and cloudy sky of her Mana Realm, slowly turned around, finding a tall and bare-chested man in her realm.
It was the Drowned King, but he seemed different... His body wasn’t covered in spiritual flames...
Meeting his sharp golden eyes, she turned around fully to face him before glancing at the scenery behind the Drowned King.
The water behind him took on a much murkier appearance as the sky above him was replaced with a coral ceiling instead of its previous serene, cloudy sky.
Lillian smiled a bit, watching as the Drowned King looked around her Mana Realm with clear interest.
"How is it? Its quite the relaxing place isn’t it?"
"... Yours isn’t that much different from mine..." The Drowned King responded with folded arms.
Apart from his coral ceiling, Lillian’s and his were fundamentally the same. The only other difference was that they could stand on the flat sea without the use of mana.
...
That was what the Drowned King thought at first.
He didn’t know why, but standing inside this Mana Realm made him... Awfully calm and relaxed...
Shaking his head, he refocused his attention on Lillian. He then began to slowly walk towards him.
Lillian, seeing this, smiled slightly and began to walk towards him as well.
Once reaching each other, they stopped, locking eyes.
Then, without any warning from the two of them, their fists shot out towards each other’s faces.
BAM. x2
The Drowned King’s right fist crashed into Lillian’s left cheek.
Lillian’s right fist crashed into the Drowned King’s left cheek.
Although Lillian was within her Mana Realm, she doubted she had enough mana to do much.
So...
BAM.
An all-out fist fight was her best option.
Wasn’t it ironic? Although the two of them were individuals granted magical abilities that were capable of many things... They still resorted to the most primal solution to solve their issues.
BAM.
Their fists.